The country’s top club cricketers are counting down the days.
Now well established as New Zealand's end-of-season cricket tournament, the NZCT National Club Cricket Championship pits the summer’s club champion from each of New Zealand’s six Major Associations against one another — regional pride on the line for a week in early April, at host Auckland’s picturesque Cornwall Cricket Club.
This season’s free entry final showdown begins Tuesday 4 April and follows the customary round robin format — three matches at once played side by side every day across Cornwall’s three grounds, leading up to the finals on Sunday 9 April.
Back for more: 2016 tournament MVP Jamie Gibson (left) and Wellington's Eastern Suburbs
Every win counts on the table, the top two sides qualifying for the big 1v2 Final on Sunday that decides which club will lift the trophy, on behalf of themselves and their region — while the remaining four teams play off for minor placings before everyone celebrates the end of another good summer.
Wellington’s Eastern Suburbs is the reigning champion from 2016, and this season "Easts" again stormed its way through local club competition in Wellington to represent the capital at the NZCT NCCC, creating a rare chance to defend the title.
They will be joined by Otago’s historic Albion club — alma mater of one Brendon McCullum; Northern Districts’ winners Mt Maunganui; Canterbury’s Old Boys’ Collegians; Manawatu club United — representing Central Districts; and the winner of Auckland’s Jeff Crowe Cup, Takapuna.
Dunedin club Albion occupies a special place in New Zealand cricketing culture with a unique connection to first-class triple centuries — it’s the only Kiwi club to have produced five players who have scored them (McCullum, Glenn Turner, Mark Richardson, Bert Sutcliffe and Ken Rutherford).
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